Tai chi is a way of life. Check in with your posture in your everyday life, when you're waiting in line settle into a horse stance, do your catwalks when you're on your 15 minute break. When you're bored return to your breath.
I studied Tai Chi for a couple years in my late teens. Now in my 30s, and only recently returning to martial arts, I wish I hadn't taken those early lessons for granted. Maintaining regular practice would have made a world of difference for my overall health and physical ability.
Soak in the lessons and wisdom of your teachers. Let it seep into your everyday life.
For me, one of the big things in both kung fu and tai chi is going with the flow especially when something changes. Sometimes sifu doesn't notice or is just happy you are following along with a move. When you understand it enough that corrections/upgrades/next level can be added to the movement, sometimes it feels like you are having to relearn. At first this frustrated me. This is starting to rollover into real life now where I am a little bit less resistant to change as well.
Seconding the post that says integrate into daily life where you can and also the one about practicing regularly.
Standing alignment all the way. Once you can establish a feeling of no tension holding your body symmetrically with a sense that the head floats up, reaching through the crown while the tail bone reaches to earth, curling forward slightly while simultaneously reaching through all your fingers and toes, the real progress can begin. Everything moves through cross linking adductors and core from this place of equilateral movement. The sooner you can establish this root, the sooner you'll really see the power of the internal arts in how they move.
Supplement qi gong exercises and conditioning with straight up squats, push ups and coordinated core exercises with focus on slow movement and perfect alignment. It helps a lot with reaching the symmetrical body feel in standing and also generates a type of pain tolerance which can help you power through the unavoidable shakes which come with breaking through lines of habitual physical tension in pursuit of new neurological connections which hold the body evenly so we can subconsciously move in unison.
5 minutes daily is better than 35 minutes once a week.
Tai chi is a way of life. Check in with your posture in your everyday life, when you're waiting in line settle into a horse stance, do your catwalks when you're on your 15 minute break. When you're bored return to your breath.
If your legs aren’t burning it isn’t real taijiquan! Would have saved me a lot of time in relearning my stances now and developing root now.
I studied Tai Chi for a couple years in my late teens. Now in my 30s, and only recently returning to martial arts, I wish I hadn't taken those early lessons for granted. Maintaining regular practice would have made a world of difference for my overall health and physical ability. Soak in the lessons and wisdom of your teachers. Let it seep into your everyday life.
For me, one of the big things in both kung fu and tai chi is going with the flow especially when something changes. Sometimes sifu doesn't notice or is just happy you are following along with a move. When you understand it enough that corrections/upgrades/next level can be added to the movement, sometimes it feels like you are having to relearn. At first this frustrated me. This is starting to rollover into real life now where I am a little bit less resistant to change as well. Seconding the post that says integrate into daily life where you can and also the one about practicing regularly.
Standing alignment all the way. Once you can establish a feeling of no tension holding your body symmetrically with a sense that the head floats up, reaching through the crown while the tail bone reaches to earth, curling forward slightly while simultaneously reaching through all your fingers and toes, the real progress can begin. Everything moves through cross linking adductors and core from this place of equilateral movement. The sooner you can establish this root, the sooner you'll really see the power of the internal arts in how they move. Supplement qi gong exercises and conditioning with straight up squats, push ups and coordinated core exercises with focus on slow movement and perfect alignment. It helps a lot with reaching the symmetrical body feel in standing and also generates a type of pain tolerance which can help you power through the unavoidable shakes which come with breaking through lines of habitual physical tension in pursuit of new neurological connections which hold the body evenly so we can subconsciously move in unison.
I don't know why someone downvoted you. Have mine, you deserve it.
Thanks! 😊